Abstract

A topological Kondo insulator (TKI) is a strongly correlated material, where hybridization between the conduction electrons and localized f electrons gives rise to a crossover from a metallic behavior at high temperatures to a topologically nontrivial insulating state at low temperatures. The existing description of the TKIs is based on a slave-boson mean-field theory, which neglects dynamic fluctuation phenomena. Here, we go beyond the mean-field theory and investigate the role of Kondo fluctuations on the topological surface states. We derive an effective theory of the Dirac surface states coupled to fluctuations and show that the latter mediate strong repulsive interactions between surface excitations. We show that these effects renormalize the plasmon spectrum on the surface. We also argue that Kondo-mediated interactions may drive a magnetic instability of the surface spectrum.

Publication Details
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2014
Volume
90
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.90.081113
Journal
Physical Review B
Contributors